Bottle-closure.



PATENTED JUNE 12, 1906.

G. KIRKEGAARD. BOTTLE OLOSURE. AFPLIGATION HLBD MAR. 25. 1905.

GEORG KIRKEGAARD,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOTTLE-CLOSURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1906.

Application tiled March 25,1905. Serial No. 251,967.

.''o all whom it met?, concern Be it known thatI, GEORG KIRKEGAARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Brooklyn and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Closures, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to and has for an` object to provide an improved bottle-stopper and one peculiarly adapted for use on milkbottles.

Milk-bottles for delivery are generally completely filled with the milk, and, as is Well known, when these filled bottles are rigidly sealed and permitted to stand exposed in cold weather the contents will freeze and break the bottles, due to the expansion of the fluid at about the critical point of freezing, and to avoid the loss of bottles and milk due to such freezing and breakage of bottles the deliverymen in severe weather sometimes unfasten the seals of the bottle-Stoppers and tilt them. This exposes the contents of the bottles to contamination and in many cases unnecessarily, since the bottles may not always be left long-enough for the milk to freeze to the breaking-point of the bottles, and also the deliverymans prognostication may be inaccurate. In any event the contents of the bottle is exposed to contaminating influences for a period of time prior to the actual expansion incident to the cold; but by my improved cover or closure the subject of the present invention a cover secured in place sufliciently for ordinarily sealing the contents and for holding it within the bottle under normal conditions is provided, while being of an elastic or yielding nature, so that when the expansion occurs the pressure overcomes the elastic holdin means, opens the closure, and prevents the 2Cfosses above alluded to.- The closure prevents the entrance of contaminating matter and germs up to the very instant of opening and up to the instant at which the safety features come into play. If the expansive freezing is but slight and temporary, but still sufficient to cause breakage in a rigidly-closed bottle, my closure will yield and again assume its sealing position upon cessation of expansion, as when the milk is set out in the cold and freezing commences; but as the morning warms from the rising sun the freezing stops and the milk begins to thaw. All this frequently happens in the few hours a bottle of milk will remain on a window-sill in the morning.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation of a bottle-neck provided with an embodiment of a form of my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view at about right angles to Fig. 1 and showing the action of the closure in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the cap shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the spring-engaging ears bent down, and Fig. 6 is a plan view of a different form of cap.

A bottle-neck (designated by 7) is illustrated having a mouth portion 8 bulging outwardly in a well-known manner, and below which a band 9, here shown as a wire, is secured. Such band carries on each side of the bottle an eye 10, which eyes maybe carried by necks 11 to hold them away from the bandin the present illustration downwardly therefrom. The necks and eyes are shown made by twisting the wire constituting the band.

The cap or closure is designated in a general way by 15 and may comprise a sheetmetal cap 16, having a struck-up flange 17, making a recess for receiving a packing 18, which may, if desired, be a suitable quality of paper or paper-board.

The cap will carry suitable attaching members (designated by 20) for elastic connections 21 to the eyes 10, which connections are here illustrated as extension-springs. The attaching means in Fi s. 1 to 4, inclusive, are shown integral wit the cap portion and embody ears 23, extending transversely of the ange 17 and provided with eyes 24 for receiving the rings 25 of the springs, rings 26 of the springs entering the eyes 10. In Fig. 5 the ears 27 are in the plane of the flange 17 and also have eyes 28. In Fig.- 6 the attaching means 20 are not integral with the cap and may be swiveled thereto. The cap 16 carries a plate 30, having a socket 31 struck up, in which an enlargement 31 of a bar 32 is received. This bar has eyes 33 bent up on its ends for receiving the springs or other elastic devices for holding the closure to its place.

It will be seen by reference more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 that the springs will hold the cap or closure securely upon the bottle-mouth, and the springs may have such IOO tension that a sealing-closure is obtained under normal condtions; but when the milk freezes the cover will move from its ull-line position 40, Fig. 2, to its dotted-line position 50, and if the freezing should cease and the.

milk then thaw the cap Vor closure'will again assume its full-line position 40 g but when the freezing continuesthe milk will rise from the bottle in a column and ndingescape at one sideas, for instance, the side 55-more easy thanvat the other side, will tilt the cover up on such side and throw it to the dotted-line 'position 60, when the movement ofthe frozen from'any side, the cover being out ofthe way column will be unopposed. Vith the cover thus disposed it will be seen that the contents of' the bottle may be poured out without interference while holding it in any position except with the cover down; but in practice in opening-the bottle the cover will be moved rst to the dotted-line position 60 and then to the dotted-line position 70, where its edge will catch against the mouth expansion 8, and the contents may then be freely'poured of pouring and also out ofthe way of the vessel into which the contents is poured. This holding ofthe cover also prevents its rattling l while the bottle is being handled orturned from one position to another.

It Will be apparent that various structural 'changes may be made as occasion demands around such groove, and having at diametric allygopposite points a pair or ears or proj ections formed by twisting the wire into a plurality of twists or coils, so as to produce eyes at the outer ends of said ears or projections, a pair of tension-springs secured to said eyes, a cap formed of sheet metal and having a packing-disk inset therein, and having ears or lugs upon diametrically opposite points of its periphery, the outer ends of said springs' being connected to said lugs.

In witness whereof I subscribe my, signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORG KIRKEGAARD. Witnesses:

FRANK'S. OBER, WALDo M. CHAPIN. 

